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Moving To Crete?

Posted by ,
22 June 2008
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2,209 views

My husband and I have reached a point were we are considering the rest of our lifes.We both have good jobs, earning good money, have a nice house and travels alot. That all sounds nice - but we are bored! That maybe sounds awfull, but it's true.

For many years we have had this dream of moving to Greece. We have been to Greece many times, different places, and we both love the country. But we have alway chosen the most secure... Staying in Denmark, earning the money, stay safe. But now we are 43 and 47 and it's time to reconsider. What is actually keeping us from doing what we dream about??? Can we find the finanses to make the dream come true? What are we doing if it turns out we can't make it?

We don't have that much family to think about. We have no children - my husband has a son but he is 21 and can manage on his own. So what is keeping us???

Is there anyone out there who can relate to this, and who actually did take the step? What is your experience? Can you recomment it? What is your back-up plan?

hello to you we are simon and jackie we brought in 2007 near the fishing village of georgeopolis we dont live there as yet that is our next target as we are now 47 and 46 yrs respectively we can only say that our experience of purchase was a dream and all went very well the locals are very freindly and the builder we purchased from was outstanding{teckniki anelexsi}based in rethymnon all we can say is go for it if it is your dream life is to short

Hi Annette,I agree with Muzzy, life is too short to spend it on worries. Just follow your dream - but plan it carefully! I have been here for 3 years now and I have never regretted the move. But it IS a big change, and you just might find that people behaves differently from when you were just tourists.

If you have read my blog you will know what kind of surprises you might bump into... ;-)

Back-up plan? Never thought about it, but being Danish it would not be that complicated to return if everything goes wrong. But I would prefer to remain and fight forever rather than returning to DK!!

We came to Crete at ages 48 and 50yrs (2 yrs ago). We were in a very similar situation to you. Good jobs, good lifestyle etc, but we also had a plan in place to ensure we could retire from the grind early.

It is very daunting to jump the void but my experience tells me life is too short not to.

Our advice is have a good plan in place. Now is an excellent time to buy in Crete and many of the other islands as the recession has bitten the property developers/ estate agents very badly and there are some fantastic bargains to be had - and you can haggle those down too. (cold hard cash works like a dream here).

We did several things to enable the move and change of lifestyle. We saved like crazy for a while (meant giving up a bit of the nice stuff but worth it). We combined some assets, sold a property. We looked into taking early pensions. It is possible to live al lovely life here really economically. Good weather, outside living, good and very reasonable tavernas and cafe's. We find budgeting a 1000 euros a month for bills and general living costs and running a car affords a very nice life. We always manage two or three meals out per week and really live well as the fresh produce is so good here, and such a good price.

As a safety net/ back up plan we bought a small property back home with some of the proceeds from the sale of our house and have rented it out. This covers itself and if we do decide we want to go back we can without too much trouble. Somehow I don't think we will though. Life here is just lovely.